Bottle-stopper.



T. C. SPELLING.

BOTTLE STOPPER.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- 23. 1916.

1,21 6,005. Patented Feb. 13, 1917.

.THOMASU. SPELLING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

7 BOTTLE-STOPPER.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Feb. 13, 191%.,

Application filedis'eptember 23, 1916.. SeriaLNo; 121,710.

To alljwhom it may concern Be it known that I, THOMAS C. a citizen of the United States, and resident: of New York city, in: the county, of: New York and State of New York, haveinvented SPELLING,

certain new and useful Improvements 1n.

Bottle-Stoppers, of a specification.

This invention relatesto combinations of bottles and bottle stoppers, and has. for a, purpose the provision of a device or; mechanism to prevent fraud and imposition by substitution of an inferior on diiferent liquid for that originally contained in a; bottle, or similar container, said bottle; or container to bemade of any suitable substance.

It comprises, a: bottle conventionally formed, for use with ordinary stopper, but having, in its neck and belowits month,.an interior trench, extending upwardly from the lowest point of theneck, terminating in a small oval opening, at oneside, saidftrench and opening formed in the making; of the bottle; a peculiarly formed stopper toibe insorted in said side opening fromthe inside, and a puller inserted thereiin from. the out: side. According to one formation: the ex.- traction of the stopper through the side opening is contemplated, and,.according:to.

which the following: is

another, the extraction withoutibrcaking the bottle or without devoting to thetaskconsiderable labor, and using special tools is impracticable.

Thefirst mentioned formation will. be. described first. having the function, as inserted, of locking said ordinary stopper so that it cannot be extracted prior to the extraction of the side stopper without the bisection and destruction of the usefulness of the ordinary stop- (31: be: inserted prior to the extraction of the side stopper; The original contents off the bottle cannotbe emptied from it until. the side stopper is removed; and the functionof the bottle is destroyed in such removal.

Owing to its peculiar shape, no substitute;

can be, provided forsaid side stopper in small quantity without a prohibitory expense, and tllfllJOttilGrCflIlIlOi) be again used without it, nor, in any event, without infringement of patent and proprietary rights, not to be contemplated asa possibility.

I have illustrated inthe drawings the-arrangement, in detail as well asin combination,.theparts of the invention. Lnowpro- It, contemplates the puller Nor can any other ordinary stopper ceed to a. description of the same, aiding the description by the said drawings, forming parts thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 exhibits parts in place, except the stem and equipmentof the puller which is embedded in the substance of the stoppers; Figs. 2, and 4 are sectional views; Fig. 2 being a top view of'a cross-section of the neck, showing the trench below the side extension made for the side stopper; Fig. 3 being a top view of a cross-section of the neck extending through said side extension, and Fig. 4: being a top view of a cross-section of said side extension showing therewithin a section of the side stopper and the hole made by the stem therein; Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the pull member exhibiting all its parts in place, and Fig. 6 is the same, showing the clip nearest the plate enlarged and the addition' of other clips; Fig. 7 is a detached view of that part of the pull member hereinafter designated as the clip and designed, upon the application of force, and mutilate the side stopper. topview of the slot to be occupied by the neck of the clip in place. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the side stopper. Fig. 10 is a sectional view of that form of the pull member shown in Fig. 5 the pull member in place showing the relation of all its parts to other parts of the device. Fig. 11 illustrates use of'enlarged and added clips.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views, A represents, the bottle, B a stopper which may be of any suitable substance but preferably ofcork, slanted or-straight, C a portion of the pull member formed to oilgage; a suitable tool or machine to be used in extracting the side stopper, D a small oval plate, and E the side stopper, which like the ordinary stopper may be ofany suitable substance, but preferably of cork.

The stem of the puller F is preferably of metal, large enough where the slot G appears to admit of the introduction of. said metal. clip, (Fig. 7), and is sufliciently reduced at H below the slot to facilitate the penetration of the substance of the two stoppers, having also the sharp point 1, conducive to the same endi Said'slot is a narrow incision in the stem, deep and wide enough to allow the insertion thereinof. the narrowedportion 0,.of the clip.- The walls thereof slant at an angle downwardly from side to side of the stem, making a sharp turn at J. The upper or inner wall is slightly beveled at K, on each side of the stem, in order that the wings may bend in toward the stem, on the passage of the latter to place.

The clip is to be of sufficient strength not to yield in the process of extracting the puller but sufficiently resilient for its ends to bend at L upwardly toward the stem of the puller as the latter moves inwardly in the act of insertion. It has the shoulders M and the interior shoulders N, the latter being slitted from the central portion and depressed to act as props. The terminals of the clips are shaped as shown in Fig. 7, these being connected by the narrowed portion 0, formed to occupy said slot, with frictional engagement, in bent or curved relation. The substance of the bottle will have the free edges P at the side opening sur rounding said oval opening interiorly. The small. plate D is formed to fit into the oval space Q. The side stopper (Fig. 9) conforms in exterior shape and dimensions to the interior surface of the space provided for it in the formation of the bottle, but is constructed slightly larger, in order that it may expand when forced inwardly, and that the sealing substances may be impacted and firmly held in place. Its end R, designed to contact with the side of the ordinary stopper in use, is slightly concaved vertically and is rounded at the upper and lower edges, as shown at S. The small plate (D) shown in the illustration is loosely adjusted around the neck of the stem.

In assembling, the point of the stem is moved under pressure along the center of the side stopper and penetrates the ordinary stopper laterally to the point T, its movement being arrested by the arrival of the plate at the point of contact with the exterior surface of the side stopper. The position of the several parts are then as follows: The lowest portions of the clip rest upon the exterior surface of the ordinary stopper atU and, although its portions not confined within the slot are by the presence of the substance of the stopper through which it passes in, curved upwardly, its sharp points, having cut their ways in passing, now lie embedded in the substance of the stopper. The edges of the plate now rest within the aforesaid edges of the bottle substance surrounding said oval space, though its position is changed in completion of the assembling as presently explained. The first act, in assembling is to press the side stopper into the space provided for it, impacting it out of the Way of the ordinary stopper. After I the ordinary stopper has been inserted and all the parts of the puller have been placed as above described, the plate is pressed downwardly until its upper surface is below said edges. The pressure upon and movement of the plate has two purposes and elfects. One of them is to bring the upper surface of the plate below the surrounding edges of the bottle substance; the other is the creation of an intenser contact of the substances of the two stoppers. Said plate, after above movement, is, by any suitable tool, or with the fingers, turned half around until its position is as seen in Fig. 1, and its longer dimension extends across the shorter diameter of said oval opening, and portions of its upper surface are brought into contact with the under surface of said edge. By this act all the parts of-the device are brought into final place and firmly held. The portion of the puller represented by C rests in a plane outside the surface of the bottle, and, in addition to its principal oflice, aforesaid, it serves as a shield to protect the bottle substance and prevent its breakage.

It is obvious that after the liquid is placed within the bottle the side stopper must be first inserted, then the ordinary stopper, then the puller. Then the plate is pressed inwardly and is turned across the oval space, as before explained.

When the bottle is to be opened, the plate is first turned back to its original position within the oval space; whereupon, force being applied to C, the first result of the outward movement is that the terminals of the clip, preceded by said sharp points, out into the adjacent substance, until said shoulders contact with the adjacent stem. The whole a pull action results in a core or fragment of the said stopper, a large proportion of it, extending from end to end being torn from the central portion thereof and pulled through said side opening, an important segment above a median line being detached and drawn through the aperture. The remnant of the side stopper and the ordinary stopper may be then removed by any suitable means and the contents of the bottle poured out.

Of course other means could be devised for closing the side opening, thus left with out closure, and using the bottle for other than legal purposes but not without the act of so using it carrying the imprint of illegality. The side stopper, without which the contents of the bottle cannot be therein sealed, is entirely ruined with respect to the uses for which it was designed; at any rate it cannot be used without the other parts of the device, or substitutes similarly constructed. But all the other parts of the device may be used again by the owner, who may procure another side stopper, for use in connection with them.

It will be observed that the addition of another clip, shown in Fig. 11, illustrates a mere variation in construction, adding merely a short neck at N, substituting the enlarged clip W and other X. Construction of the device according to the preceding description of the first formation contemplates use by the owner of the puller and bottle after the original contents have been emptied. But, in the case of the form illustrated in Fig. 11, the breakage of the bottle above the point of emplacement is practically necessary before its contents can be emptied. This can, however, if preferable, be accomplished without involving total destruction, because the bottle neck is weakened in preparation along the plane of the puller. The result of the enlargement of the clip (shown in Fig. 6) is that, when force is applied to the puller causing the terminals of the clips to spread apart, their divergence becomes so great that their passage through the neck of the side opening is obstructed. The same force causes a like spreading apart of the terminals of the other clips which in the act of inserting the puller have been embedded in the substance of the ordinary stopper. And owing to their increased length and spread, the force applied to the puller acts now along lines outside the circumference of the side opening, whereas, in the form of construction first described, said force acts along the lines Z, within said circumference. The obvious effect of the application of force, in both instances is to impact the substance of the stopper along these lines, and in the second formation to obstruct the movement of the clips.

If desired, or thought necessary, an additional side opening in the bottle may be formed and a pull member, fully equipped as above described, placed at right, or at an oblique angle across that above described and illustrated.

It will be understood that while I have herein illustrated the preferred embodiment of the invention, the latter is not restricted to the said special form of devices but is Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the capable of embodiment in such other forms and devices as will be within, the scope of the hereto appended claims.

I claim:

1. A bottle closure comprising in combi nation a bottle neck having an end and a side opening, a stopper in each opening, and a retaining pin insertible through said side opening through the stopper therein and into the stopper in the end opening.

2. A bottle closure comprising in combination a bottle neck having an end opening and a side opening, a channel formed in the inner wall communicating with said side opening, a stopper in said side, and another in the end opening, and a retaining pin insertible in said side opening through the stopper therein into the stopper in the end opening.

3. A bottle closure comprising in combination a bottle neck, having an end opening and a side opening, stoppers in said side and end openings, a retaining pin comprising a pin insertible through said side opening, a clip carried by said pin flexibly supported to permit deflection of said clip upon withdrawal of said pin, and said clip mutilating said stopper in the side opening upon withdrawal of said retaining pin.

l. In a bottle closure, a bottle neck having a side opening of elliptical cross section, a stopper therein, a retaining pin insertible through said opening and stopper and a plate of elliptical outline insertible through the mouth of said opening and rotatable on said retaining pin to dispose its great diameter across the mean diameter of said opening.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York this 14th day of September, A. D. 1916.

THOMAS C. SPELLING.

Witnesses:

JEAN GREENBERG, MOLLIE QUATINETZ.

Washington, D. C. 

